


Missing Family (and finding a new one)

by samariumwriting



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Cooking, Fluff, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, Homesickness, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:46:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24204613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samariumwriting/pseuds/samariumwriting
Summary: A few weeks into their time at the Officers Academy, Claude notices that his new classmates are feeling a little down. In an attempt to solve their homesickness, he tries to make them feel more at home in Garreg Mach.-“No, no, Hilda, I said to watch the rice!” Leonie said, rushing over to the pot that was now letting off a rather foul burning smell.“Oops, sorry!” Hilda replied, not sounding sorry at all as she helped Marianne very carefully chop up some vegetables for the stew.
Comments: 16
Kudos: 29





	Missing Family (and finding a new one)

**Author's Note:**

> This is my piece for the Kith & Kin zine, a family focused FE zine which you can download for free @HyphenZines on twitter! I love writing....found family

Starting at the Officers Academy was new and exciting, but with a rush of energy came its absence later on. As such, it only took a couple of weeks into their term at the Academy for Claude to notice some cracks forming in the Golden Deer.

“What’s with the long face, buddy?” Claude asked, dropping himself into the seat opposite Ignatz. He was pushing his food around his plate with his fork and clearly not paying attention, because he jumped at the sound of Claude’s voice.

“Claude! I, oh, I was just…”

“Go on,” he said. He didn’t know Ignatz as well as he would have liked to know him by now, but he knew enough about the boy to pick up on the fact that sometimes he needed a little nudge in the right direction.

“I miss my mother’s cooking,” Ignatz admitted. “I know it sounds silly, and the food here really is good, so I don’t want to upset the chefs, but it’s…”

“Not the same, right?” he guessed, and Ignatz nodded, going back to staring at his plate. Claude wished he knew how to help.

It wasn’t just Ignatz, either. Later that afternoon, Claude saw Raphael standing in front of a stall in the marketplace selling second hand books. He was carefully counting out the money in his hand and squinting at the price tags. “Hey, Raph,” he called, sidling over.

“Oh hey Claude,” Raphael said, shooting him a slightly less enthused smile than his normal fare.

“What’re you doing?” he asked.

“I’m looking for a book for my little sister,” he explained. “But I don’t know what she’d like...or if I can afford anything she’d like. I really want the best for her, and seeing as I can’t really take the time to visit her or anything-”

“You miss her, right?” Claude asked, sliding his hand into his left pocket. His allowance wasn’t generous, by noble standards, but he was sure it was better than Raphael’s.

“Yeah,” Raphael said. “I’m used to being with her all the time, ‘specially since my parents died, so it’s strange to be away from her.”

“Well, if you miss her, she’ll miss you, right?” he asked. “So I’m sure she’ll just be really happy to hear from you. You could save your money to send frequent letters, right?”

“Oh yeah, that’s a really good idea!” Raphael said, smiling down at the coins in his hand. Claude could practically hear him counting out how many letters he’d be able to send with what he had. “Thanks, Claude!”

And, well, if Claude sent a book to one Maya Kirsten with the next set of post, Raphael didn’t need to know that. The problem was more that he still couldn’t fix the loneliness he knew Raphael often felt.

It didn’t help that most of the Deer just didn’t like talking about their feelings. Claude liked to think he understood people pretty well, and he was good at working out little things about how people ticked, but he couldn’t make people open up just like that.

Even though she didn’t say anything about it, Claude knew that even Lysithea wasn’t immune to the sudden bout of homesickness that was taking over his classmates one by one. He’d seen the way she poured over the letters they sent, how she spent every evening penning a careful reply. He’d seen how she attached herself, perhaps without even thinking about it, to Mercedes’ gentle reassurances.

Claude hated watching everyone suffer. He’d expected to be alone in this feeling of being unable to blend into a new environment, but it turned out that they were all feeling it. No matter how far away his home was, his new classmates were just as cut off from theirs.

And maybe he couldn’t take them home to their families, but he could absolutely try and make them feel a little more at home here.

With the permission (and help) of their new Professor, Claude managed to commandeer his classmates and the kitchen for one afternoon. Fortunately, they cooperated without too much fuss, and a brand of chaos that was becoming rather familiar descended.

“No, no, Hilda, I said to watch the rice!” Leonie said, rushing over to the pot that was now letting off a rather foul burning smell.

“Oops, sorry!” Hilda replied, not sounding sorry at all as she helped Marianne very carefully chop up some vegetables for the stew.

“What’re you making there, Claude?” Lysithea asked, leaning over the pan Claude was watching. Carefully, he brushed her away, and her face twisted into a pout that he opted not to point out.

“I’m frying some fish,” Claude said. “Then I’ll be adding a couple of eggs, and it’ll go with the rice. I haven’t had it for a while, but my mother always used to make it.”

“Oh, that’s a traditional Derdriu recipe!” Raphael said. Huh, that was news to Claude, but he wasn’t exactly surprised. “My grandfather makes it all the time if he can get fresh fish.”

“A Derdriu recipe that your mother used to cook all the time?” Leonie asked. “Claude, I thought your mother was-”

Claude laughed, his mother’s words echoing in his mind. ‘You must promise, Khalid,’ she’d told him, ‘that you do not say or do anything that could reveal where or who I or your father are.’

“Whatever you’re thinking, I’m sure the truth is endlessly more boring,” he said, flashing a smile at Leonie and willing her to drop it. If anything, the truth was more interesting than what she’d assumed, and he sure as Ailell didn’t know any of his classmates well enough to trust them with that knowledge.

“Hmm,” Lorenz said, and Claude could practically feel him working towards a tirade about Claude’s lineage and how suspect it was. But, thankfully, Hilda knew enough about them all to know how much Lorenz’s little (large) quirks could disrupt the mood, so she ran interference.

“Oh, Lorenz!” she said, her voice practically rising an octave as she adopted the most obvious act Claude had ever seen from her. Lorenz’s gaze snapped to Hilda immediately. “Do you think you could cut the rest of these vegetables? The knife is sharp and I’m worried about my dainty hands…”

Claude smothered a laugh as he watched Lorenz’s smooth hands take the knife from Hilda’s considerably more calloused ones; she took good care of her skin, but you could only do so much when your primary weapon was an axe. He shot Hilda a smile, which she returned with a wink. Guess he owed her again.

After that, the atmosphere settled into something friendly again, and they stumbled through the final aspects of cooking and serving up the food together. An observer might criticise their teamwork, saying that even in the short time they’d known each other they were meant to gel together a little better, but Claude thought they got by just fine.

The meal was rowdy - but everything was with the Golden Deer, Claude had quickly learned - and crowded, but, miraculously, none of the actual food had gone wrong. Everything tasted great, and Claude couldn’t help but feel proud of them all.

“This is so good,” Raphael said, polishing off his second plate full. “I wish there was some more!” 

“Well, we can make some more if we just get some more fish,” Claude said with a chuckle. He didn’t expect the Deer to take him up on that offer, but their late lunch stretched into catching more fish together, and that progressed into making more food for dinner.

By the time the meal was finished, Ignatz’s sketchbook had emerged, and he was doodling Lorenz, who’d stretched out along the bench and hadn’t noticed that there was rice in his hair (how that had happened, Claude honestly had no idea). Soon afterwards, Marianne excused herself, saying she had an assignment to finish.

“Hang on, Marianne,” Lysithea said. “Which assignment is it?”

“Oh, um, the commentary on the second chapter of the tactics manual,” she said. “I haven’t...read the chapter yet, so it might take a while.”

Lysithea paused and chewed her lip, and then did the exact opposite of what Claude had expected to hear. “Do you want my notes?” she asked. “I’ve written the commentary already, so you can see that for an example if you like.”

Marianne’s eyes lit up. “Are you sure?” she asked, moving to sit back down in their little circle. Lysithea nodded, and Marianne’s face split into a smile. And wow, okay, Claude had not seen her smile before. He thought idly that maybe he’d kill to see it again.

So, yeah, maybe there were little gaps they still had to fill between them, and this was a good day rather than a bad or even an average one in terms of them all fitting together, but...

The sun was shining, and Claude felt a genuine smile grow on his face. He could imagine a bright future coming for them all, and he was excited to see where it would take them.

**Author's Note:**

> Ty for reading!! If you have any thoughts, please leave a comment or feel free to follow me on twitter @samariumwriting


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